Westminster2010

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

The Westminster 2010 Declaration of Christian Conscience now has gathered over 65,000 signatures and over 8,500 ‘Facebook fans’ since its launch on 4 April (Easter Sunday).

The election has resulted in a coalition ‘Lib-Con’ government but also a parliament that is better balanced on Christian conscience issues. Overall we lost 63 MPs with poor voting records but only 10 MPs with good voting records.

Of over 200 new MPs 32 made the Westminster pledge to ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’. A further 38 were judged ‘supportive’ on the basis of their emails and public statements.

Overall, we know of 24 new MPs who are Christians including nine members of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and one from the Christian Socialist movement.

From the 250 marginal seats where we made a ‘preferred candidate’ recommendation 96 of our gold star candidates and 38 of our silver stars (tactical votes) came through some with big swings.

In Oxford West and Abingdon, Nicola Blackwood (Conservative), an evangelical Christian, edged out outspoken secularist MP Evan Harris with a 6.9% swing. But in Westmoreland another Christian Tim Farron (Lib Dem) held his seat with an 11.1% swing against the opposing Conservative candidate.

There is a full list of elected candidates on our candidates’ page where you can also check how we graded them. See the key on our blog.

The real impact of the Christian vote in this election will require more detailed analysis – but Christians have been mobilised to vote on conscience issues in greater numbers than ever before. Hundreds of churches have sent in petition forms and thousands of people have written to local candidates to enquire where they stand. That can only be good.

What now?

1.Please keep gathering signatures – Send this email on to friends and encourage your Christian contacts to sign. Sign up forms and posters for churches can be printed from the homepage. Send them in to Westminster 2010, 8 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1HL and help us on our drive to 100,000 signatures to present to the Prime Minister.

2.Please email any of the 300 candidates who signed the pledge via the candidates’ page and thank them. It’s very straight forward. Tick the box titled ‘show all candidates who have made pledge or are supportive’ and email anyone with a green tick using the standard email. Modify if you wish.

3.Join our Facebook page, follow the regular updates and join in the conversation.

Sunday, 9 May 2010

The election has resulted in a hung parliament but it has also resulted in a parliament that is better balanced on Christian conscience issues.

Prior to the election we reviewed the voting records of the 491 MPs who were standing again and classified them with respect to the Christian conscience issues in the Westminster 2010 Declaration as supportive (159, 32%), unsupportive (297, 60%) or unclear (35, 7%).

So overall we lost 63 MPs with poor voting records but only 10 MPs with good voting records. While it is very sad to see the loss of people like David Drew and Geraldine Smith, we can be thankful that re-elected MPs are overall balanced more in our favour.

What about the 237 new MPs? What do we know about them?

We do not have past voting records here to rely on so assessment is more difficult. However we can make some sort of judgement from public statements, email correspondence and their willingness to make the Westminster 2010 pledge to ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’.

32 new MPs have made the pledge and a further 38 were judged supportive on the basis of their emails and public statements – 70 in total or 30% of the 237. Five were unsupportive. Of the remaining 162 we do not have enough information to make a judgement.

So overall of our 650 current MPs (assuming that the Anne McIntosh gets re-elected for Thirsk and Malton) 219 (149+70) are supportive (34%), 239 (234+5) are unsupportive (37%) and the views of the remaining 191 (29+162) are unclear or unknown (29%).

If just 15 of these192 unknowns are supportive (and we would expect many more than this) then the balance of supportive to unsupportive MPs will be better than that of the 491MPs who stood for re-election.

What was the overall effect of the Christian vote? The Christian Party won less than 18,000 votes in total for its candidates. However it is very clear that most Christians vote for candidates from one of the three main parties and around the country a number of Christians are amongst the new MPs. Entering parliament for the first time are nine members of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and one member of the Christian Socialist Movement. More than ten other new MPs indicated in their correspondence to us that they were Christians.

Amongst our gold star (supportive) and silver star (tactical vote) candidates in marginal constituencies a number won their seats on significant swings against sitting MPs with poor voting records on Christian conscience issues.

For example in Oxford West and Abingdon, Nicola Blackwood, an evangelical Christian, edged out outspoken secularist MP Evan Harris with a 6.9% swing. Robert Halfon cruised in with a 5.9% swing in Harlow (expelling Bill Rammell) and Jeremy LeFroy managed a 7.4% swing in Stafford to oust David Kidney. Similarly Gavin Shuker held firm against a smaller than average swing of 4.6% to hold Luton South for the Labour Party.

The real impact of the Christian vote in this election will require more detailed analysis – but Christians have been mobilised to vote on conscience issues in greater numbers than ever before.

Over 120,000 have visited our website, over 60,000 have signed the Westminster Declaration and over 8,000 have joined our Facebook groups in just four weeks. Hundreds of churches have sent in petition forms and thousands have written to local candidates to enquire where they stand. The church is awakening.

1. Pray - that Westminster 2010 will make a positive difference through encouraging ordinary Christians to take a stand, helping them to vote wisely and through making all candidates aware of the importance of the Christian vote in a close-run election where it may, by God’s grace, prove decisive.

2. Gather signatures – Please continue to encourage Christians in your churches to sign the declaration after the election. The Election has been our initial focus but the Declaration itself is more timeless and we are planning to present it to the incoming Prime Minister when the election is over. Sign up forms can be printed easily from the homepage. Send them in to Westminster 2010, 8 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1HL and help us on the drive to 100,000 signatures!

Monday, 3 May 2010

The expenses controversy, the economic crisis and the undermining of protection for human life, marriage and Christian conscience in the last ten years has led many Christians to lose faith in politicians generally. Many are also disillusioned with all of the three main parties and especially the three leaders, all of whom have at best mixed voting records on issues of Christian conscience.

As a result some Christians have decided this year either to vote for local Christian candidates with no real prospect of winning or not to vote at all. An alternative approach is to vote for the ‘least bad option’, the best candidate with a realistic chance of winning the seat.

Westminster 2010, as it focuses primarily on issues of conscience is not party political. We recognise that no party or no candidate is perfect. However, as citizens living in a democracy we do have a responsibility to vote and it is clear that there are some candidates who are preferable to others.

So far, on the basis of past voting records, public statements and replies to emails we have been able to identify over 800 parliamentary candidates whose position on Christian conscience issues is known. Our grading system of red, green and grey symbols is explained on the Westminster 2010 blog.

250 candidates have made the pledge to ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’. Another 250 are known to be supportive on the basis of past voting records or personal statements. A further 300 are known to be unsupportive.

About 6 million people in the UK regularly attend church; about 10,000 in each constituency. Committed Christians are only a minority group but our votes can have a real impact in marginal constituencies. The parliament we end up with will be determined entirely by what happens in marginal constituencies as they are the only ones which are going to change hands in a close-run election.

We have therefore taken the 300 most marginal constituencies in the UK and tried to identify in each a ‘preferred option’. This information is now displayed on our candidates page and is being constantly updated as new data comes to light.

Currently we have ‘preferred option’ candidates identified in 250 marginal constituencies or 84% of the total. Of these 58 have made the pledge and a further 91 are known to be supportive. Another 101 are tactical votes aimed at keeping someone who is known to be unsupportive out of office.

First, if we look at current MPs’ past voting records, in general Labour and Liberal Democrats have voted for the legislation that is now being used to discriminate against Christians, whilst Conservatives have opposed it. There are notable exceptions of course on both sides. Several members of the Conservative front bench, for example, have very poor voting records but unfortunately they are not in marginal seats.

Second, in the vast majority of marginal seats with a Labour or Liberal Democrat MP with a poor voting record, it is a Conservative rather than a Liberal Democrat Candidate who is in second place and stands the best chance of winning. Many of these unfortunately are still unknown quantities and we have been frustrated somewhat in our analysis by Conservative Central Office advising its candidates not to respond to us or to send us cut-and-paste replies.

Of the 192 ‘preferred option’ Conservatives candidates 78 are sitting Conservative MPs with good voting records. A further 30 have made the pledge. The remaining 84 are simply tactical votes lying second to Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs with poor voting records. We have no data on them and for all we know these candidates may be no better than the sitting MPs whose seats they are attempting to win.

We have marked each ‘preferred option’ candidate as follows:

Gold Star - has made a pledge to 'respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’ and/or is known to be supportive on the basis of past voting records, public statements or correspondence and also stands a good chance of winning the seat.

Silver Star – position on conscience issues is unknown to us but they are the candidate with the best chance of winning against someone who is known to be unsupportive

The ultimate decision is yours. We are not telling you how to vote but simply providing information for you to weigh in making your choice. You may have local knowledge of your candidates which we don’t have and there are many other sources of information for you to draw on in deciding which candidate gets your vote. We particularly recommend the excellent resources on the Christian Institute website including their election briefing, MP voting records and party manifestos.

However, where you place your cross on polling day is a matter of Christian conscience for you alone to decide. We know you will praying earnestly about it. Overall let's pray that God is glorified in his people in this election. To God be all the glory.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Thursday, 29 April 2010

Over 40,000 Christians have now signed and over 6,500 have become ‘Facebook fans’ in just over three weeks since its launch on 4 April (Easter Sunday).

The general election on 6 May is rapidly approaching and looks close. With over 6,000 churchgoers on average per constituency the Christian vote could be very significant indeed.

Westminster 2010 is not party political and we know that Christian voters will be weighing candidates and parties up on a range of issues that are important to them personally. Here are some resources that we think you will find helpful.

Resources to help you

1.Our candidates’ page where we grade candidates green, red or grey on conscience issues. Search on candidate, constituency or grade and read how we did it. Keep checking in as we are adding to this information all the time.

2.Our links page which gives links to a huge range of Christian election websites and resources.

3.How well do you know your MP? A blog article giving links to useful sites on the web to help you research your own MP’s real views and voting record.

1. Gather signatures – Please encourage Christians in your churches to sign the declaration. This Sunday is your last chance before the election! Sign up forms and posters can be printed easily from the homepage and a simple video explains what it is all about. Send them in to Westminster 2010, 8 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1HL and help us get to 100,000 signatures!

2. Write to candidates - If you haven’t already done so, please write to your local candidates to ask them to take the pledge to 'respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’. It is very easily done in moments via our candidates’ page.

4. Pray - that Westminster 2010 will make a positive difference through encouraging ordinary Christians to take a stand, helping them to vote wisely and through making all candidates aware of the importance of the Christian vote in a close-run election where it may, by God’s grace, prove decisive.

We have over 2,000 candidates in 650 constituencies listed on the Westminster 2010 Candidates’ Page where you can search on candidate name or constituency and also generate lists of green, red and grey candidates

More specifically we award one of the following five status codes to each candidate – all of which are logged on the website.

Green Tick – ‘has made the pledge’These candidates have written to us (or a member of their constituency) and have specifically made the pledge to 'respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience'. We generally give candidates the benefit of any doubt in awarding a green tick unless we have past voting records, public statements or other statements in their emails which suggest otherwise.

Green Question Mark – ‘past record suggests supportive’This group includes the following:•MPs with good past parliamentary voting records on Christian conscience issues who we have not yet heard from•Candidates who have written (to us or to constituents) who have not made the pledge in as many words but have in their emails otherwise indicated a commitment to respect the right to exercise Christian conscience•Members of Christian parliamentary groups •Candidates who make the pledge, with some amendments, but whose emails otherwise are supportive•Candidates who have not written to us but who have made supportive public statements at hustings or to constituents•Candidates who have sent us ‘cut and paste’ letters which although not making the pledge are otherwise generally supportive

Grey Question Mark – ‘Position unclear or unknown’ This group includes:•MPs with ambiguous past voting records on Christian conscience issues regardless of whether or not they have made the pledge •Candidates who have written us emails that leave their real position still in doubt •Candidates about whom we still have no insufficient information to make any judgement

Red Question Mark – ‘past record suggests unsupportive’ This group includes:•MPs with poor past parliamentary voting records on Christian conscience issues regardless of whether or not they have made the pledge•Candidates who have written us emails that suggest they are not supportive •Candidates who have not written to us but who have made unsupportive public statements at hustings or to constituents

Red Cross – ‘will not make pledge’ This group includes:•MPs with poor past parliamentary voting records on Christian conscience issues who have written to us and have not made the pledge •Candidates and MPs who have specifically refused to make the pledge •Candidates who have written us (or constituents) in response to a direct request to make the pledge emails suggesting they are not supportive

In coming to our final assessment we will often have several email exchanges with a specific candidate and we are grateful for those who have taken the time to write to us with their views whether they support us or not

Monday, 26 April 2010

We reported recently on replies from Conservative Party Candidates to requests to make the Westminster 2010 pledge to ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’

We are now receiving a set similar set of standard letters (with some personal variations) from Liberal Democrat candidates. From those who are happy to make the pledge the replies generally run along the following lines:

Thank you for writing to me and asking me to support the Westminster 2010 Declaration. I am very happy to support the candidate's pledge.

I believe passionately in an individual’s fundamental freedom of conscience and thus believe - in accordance with the European Convention of Human Rights - that religious individuals should have an absolute right to freedom of belief and the right to manifest their belief so long as it does not interfere disproportionately with the legitimate rights and freedoms of others, and subject to other limitations necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety and order. I believe that free religious speech should have protection and should not be limited simply because an individual may be offended.

Christians of all denominations play an important role in the rich tapestry of the United Kingdom and I hope they will continue to do so.

Candidates replying in the above manner are generally qualifying for the green tick (‘has made the pledge’) on our candidates' page unless they are MPs and have a past voting record which indicates that they are not actually supportive.

The European Convention of Human Rights is open to some interpretation in that the ‘absolute right to freedom of belief and the right to manifest their belief’ is balanced with the interference ‘disproportionately with the legitimate rights and freedoms of others’. The key issue is what happens when Christians holding orthodox Christian beliefs are judged to be ‘interfering disproportionately with the legitimate rights and freedoms of others’.

One of our principal concerns is that some recent legislation (eg. Aspects of the Equality Bill, homosexual orientation regulations, ‘homophobic hatred’ offence) have been used to force Christians to do things they believe are wrong with the threat of discipline or dismissal if they do not comply. Other legislation has been used to discriminate against Christians simply for manifesting normal Christian behaviour (eg expressing a view on an ethical issue, offering prayer, wearing a cross)

Free votes are traditionally offered for conscience issues in Parliament but it is left up to the party whips to decide what constitutes a conscience issue. We have as a result seen the government in the last few years not actually allowing free votes on what we believe are clearly issues of conscience (eg such as with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill). When no free vote is allowed on a conscience issue we expect MPs to vote according to their conscience, even if this involves defying the party whip.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat Leader has at best a questionable past voting record on issues of Christian conscience and in his letter to us has not agreed to make the pledge. He also appears not to have read our letter, which was not asking him to sign the Westminster Declaration itself but rather to make the pledge. His reply, which incorporates the standard Lib Dem response, reads as follows:

Thank you for writing to me and asking me to support the Westminster 2010 Declaration.

As set out in the European Convention on Human Rights, Liberal Democrats believe that religious individuals should have an absolute right to freedom of belief and the right to manifest their belief so long as it does not interfere disproportionately with the legitimate rights and freedoms of others, and subject to other limitations necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, public order etc. In particular we believe that free religious speech should have particular protection and not be limited just because someone might be offended.

We have awarded him a red cross – ‘will not make pledge’

A significant number of Lib Dem candidates have, unlike their leader, been very willing to make the pledge. They will need to show a lot of courage if elected as the party itself does not have a strong record on supporting legislation that respects Christian conscience.

The policies of all parties on controversial legislation has been reviewed in the Christian Institute’s recent Election Briefing and their MP database enables voters to check past voting records on key issues. The Election Briefing notes the following:

The Lib Dems firmly supported the Equality Bill and voted for narrowing employment protections for churches and religious organisations. They also argued that religion should not be included as a protected characteristic in the public sector equality duties.

They are against favouring marriage in the tax system and are the main party most supportive of gay rights, with Leader Nick Clegg being the only main party leader so far to advocate the legalisation of same-sex marriage as definitive party policy.

In 2002 the Lib Dems backed adoption by homosexual couples in England and Wales, and passed equivalent Scottish legislation in 2007 when coalition partners in the Scottish Executive. In Scotland the Lib Dems opposed protecting religious adoption agencies from being compelled to place children with same-sex couples, turning against their Labour coalition partners to oppose an exemption during the passage of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill 2007.

They also strongly supported the Civil Partnership Act, Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) and the Gender Recognition Act. It is also Lib Dem policy that every church school should lose its freedom to choose Christian staff, or to seek pupils who agree with the school’s ethos.